The early Christians had a problem with the
Baptist. He had preached the nearness of the the kingdom of God before Jesus had. And
Jesus had been baptized by him. Thus the Baptists disciples could claim that their master
was prior to and therefore superior to the master of the Christians. So they rearranged
history a little bit of pedagogical purposes. The Baptist was not so much about an
apocalyptic intervention of God which would punish all sinners as he was preaching about
the coming of Jesus who would embody the kingdom of God. In fact, the kingdom as preached
by Jesus was a kingdom of love and mercy lurking near to and all around humankind, a
difference which is perhaps more important today than it seemed to the early Christians.

Once upon
a time there was a company which was in a bad way. The last three CEOs had been dummies.
The companies stock had lost 60% of its value, its market share had decline by thirty
percent, its bright people were leaving, morale among the employees was at rock
bottom. The worst part of the trouble was that the product they made was still the best in
the market. But the previous leaders had been lazy and mean and had spent most of their
time awarding themselves and their friends huge bonuses. They paid not attention to
advertising or marketing. Finally a new board was appointed at the stockholders
insistence. They fired the last CEO with a thunderous denunciation. They warned the
employees that all their jobs  and their pensions  were in grave jeopardy. The
workers were terrified. Finally the new CEO arrived. He was expected to fire half the
workers, cut back on expenses, and give the company the good shaking that everyone said it
needed. Instead he walking around the building, smiled at everyone, assured them that
everyone would be all right and that he didnt plan to fire anyone. Another fool they
said. Then he met with the union leaders to get their suggestions. They told him the truth
that the produce was the best in the business. I thought that too, he said. Then he hired
new marketing and advertising director, brought in new advertising and public relations
firm and launched a very clever television campaign. By that time everyone in the company
admired him and worked hard for him. In six months the company was well on the way to
recovery. You catch more flies with honey, a top executive said of him. And
added, mixing his metaphors, some nice guys finish first. And the new boss
merely said, the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom, but only the
beginning.